and he is getting a lot of backup from people who stood in long lines on election day to elect him. he's well aware of that. but i think that's where his heart is, too. this is not something new. this is something that he campaigned on. and he won on. if you look at the polling numbers, this is what the american people voted for. they said that the upper earners should be paying more. >> i'm curious, though, from the president's perspective, how important is a deal now whether it's just a deal or the deal that he wants in terms of his second term, his overall political power if you will? how does that play out? >> knowing the president as i do, i think it is very important to him that he gets a deal. but i also know that he believes that no deal is better than a bad deal. he also knows that if we go into 2013 and having to deal with this, we have even a better situation because of course the senate has more democrats there. and then we're dealing from a whole different perspective. but i believe very strongly, and i think all of us want a deal. keep in mind, there are some things we